With large nationwide chains that dominate the market, small hardware stores sometimes have a difficult time being competitive. The key is to find a unique selling proposition for your business and to capitalize on it so customers see the value in choosing you over one of the larger stores. Here are some great ways to make your business stand out.

Giveaways -When your store first opens (or even if you're just looking for an extra push), offer small giveaways to your customers with their purchase. These will be tools or products they can use that are branded with your store's information-hammers, tape measures, levels, etc. When a customer is using this product and runs out of something or determinates the need to visit a hardware store, they'll see your information and immediately head your way!

In-Store Classes -Hardware stores often form a bit of a culture and social atmosphere, so find ways to play this up. One great choice is to sponsor training classes and educational seminars in your store. Work with your vendors to provide information that your customers will find valuable. Even your employees can instruct these classes-anything from minor home renovation products to full-scale remodeling. List the classes you're offering that month above your cash registers with a large, visible vinyl banner which clearly-informs customers of their opportunities to expand their skills.

Charity Donations -Offer your products to charity groups and organizations in-town which build or repair homes for the less-fortunate. This is great PR for your business, it makes you look more-reliable, and in return you're often able to advertise at the home-site using a banner or yard sign. When customers see that you're giving back to your community, they are more-inclined to shop with you.

Ladies Night -Most hardware stores predominately-market toward men. While the majority of your customers are probably male, do not neglect the ladies. Host a "Ladies Night" at your store that offers your educational classes and even a special discount on purchases made by women. Use removable window clings to give your store a slight feminine touch. There's a huge potential market here that is somewhat-untapped, and with the right approach, female customers can dramatically affect your business.

Personal Shoppers -Some customers complain that hardware or home improvement stores are overwhelming. Counter this objection by providing customers with a personal shopping service. Your employees already help customers find products daily anyway, but creating a formal program provides a revenue opportunity. Customers can have one of your employees guide them around the store and help them find exactly what they need for their project, or for even-more convenience, your employee can preselect the products they need so that when the customer arrives, all they have to Do is check out.

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One of the most famous and widely used approaches for software development is the waterfall model. Waterfall approach is an old technique that has been in use for quite some time, but in modern times agile approach is gaining prominence.

Waterfall approach, as is evident from the name, refers to a systematic approach where one step comes after the other. It cannot go the other way round. The process works like the waterfall effect that flows in one direction, which is from up to down.

In this process the life cycle of the development process is predetermined. All the steps are defined before the start of the project. The approach is predictive, where the team is well aware of the order of each step and therefore works accordingly. It starts from the requirement analysis, the design phase and then proceeds on to the implementation, testing and the maintenance phases.

The waterfall approach can be quite beneficial for those who are quite clear on their requirements. A planned approach works for them because they want fixed processes and budget. Where fixed processes are beneficial, at the same time they can be inconvenient at times. In cases where the client is not clear on the requirements and finds in the middle of the project that he/she wants to change course, this approach can prove to be quite problematic.

Another point of the waterfall approach is that the requirement analysis and design of architectural structure can consume a lot of time. Extensive research is done initially as the next phases depend completely on the planning strategy. However, the good thing is that everything is thoroughly worked out and each aspect is studied beforehand. The developers in such cases know what is expected of them.

A waterfall approach works in a systematic order, with one step following the other and the testing phase comes in the end. If there are any big problems encountered in the testing phase, it means a long process to make the amends. The process can consume extra time and money.

We cannot conclude that one approach is better than the other, as every method would have its own strengths and weaknesses. The determination of success for each method depends on how it is being used and whether the approach suits the scope of work being undertaken. While one approach may be suitable for a particular project, it might become totally useless under different circumstances. For example, some believe that agile methods are not well suited for offshore development, as they require a closer contact and communication that is not possible in an offshore project.

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Excel is perhaps the most important computer software program used in the workplace today. That’s why so many workers and prospective employees are required to learn Excel in order to enter or remain in the workplace.

From the viewpoint of the employer, particularly those in the field of information systems, the use of Excel as an end-user computing tool is essential. Not only are many business professionals using Excel to perform everyday functional tasks in the workplace, an increasing number of employers rely on Excel for decision support.

In general, Excel dominates the spreadsheet product industry with a market share estimated at 90 percent. Excel 2007 has the capacity for spreadsheets of up to a million rows by 16,000 columns, enabling the user to import and work with massive amounts of data and achieve faster calculation performance than ever before.

Outside the workplace, Excel is in broad use for everyday problem solving.

Let’s say you have a home office. You can use Excel to calculate sales tax on a purchase, calculate the cost of a trip by car, create a temperature converter, calculate the price of pizza per square inch and do analysis of inputted data. You can track your debt, income and assets, determine your debt to income ratio, calculate your net worth, and use this information to prepare for the process of applying for a mortgage on a new house. The personal uses for Excel are almost as endless as the business uses for this software – and an Excel tutorial delves into the practical uses of the program for personal and business use.

The use of spreadsheets on computers is not new. Spreadsheets, in electronic form, have been in existence since before the introduction of the personal computer. Forerunners to Excel and Lotus 1-2-3 were packages such as VisiCalc, developed and modeled on the accountant’s financial ledger. Since 1987, spreadsheet programs have been impacting the business world. Along the way, computerized spreadsheets have become a pervasive and increasingly effective tool for comparative data analysis throughout the world.

Today, end users employ Excel to create and modify spreadsheets as well as to author web pages with links and complex formatting specifications. They create macros and scripts. While some of these programs are small, one-shot calculations, many are much more critical and affect significant financial decisions and business transactions.

Widely used by businesses, service agencies, volunteer groups, private sector organizations, scientists, students, educators, trainers, researchers, journalists, accountants and others, Microsoft Excel has become a staple of end users and business professionals.

The beauty of Excel is that it can be used as a receiver of workplace or business data, or as a calculator, a decision support tool, a data converter or even a display spreadsheet for information interpretation. Excel can create a chart or graph, operate in conjunction with Mail Merge functions, import data from the Internet, create a concept map and sequentially rank information by importance.

Excel offers new data analysis and visualization tools that assist in analyzing information, spotting trends and accessing information more easily than in the past. Using conditional formatting with rich data display schemes, you can evaluate and illustrate important trends and highlight exceptions with colored gradients, data bars and icons.

Indeed, Excel can be customized to perform such a wide variety of functions that many businesses can’t operate without it. Excel training has become mandatory in many workplaces; in fact, computer software training is a must for any workplace trying to keep up with the times.

Let’s say you’re an employer with 97 workers, 17 of whom called in sick today, and you want to know the percentage represented by absentees. Excel can do that. You can learn Excel and use it to determine the ratio of male to female employees, the percentage of minorities on the payroll, and the ranking of each worker by compensation package amount, including the percentages of that package according to pay and benefits. You can use Excel to keep track of production by department, information that may assist you in future development plans. You can create additional spreadsheets to track data on vendors and customers while maintaining an ongoing inventory of product stock.

Let’s say you want to know your business production versus cost. You don’t have to be a math wiz – you just have to learn Excel. Excel allows you to input all of the data, analyze it, sort it according to your customized format, and display the results with color, shading, backgrounds, icons and other gimmicks that offer time-saving assistance in later locating precisely the information desired. If this spreadsheet is for presentation purposes, Excel helps you put it together in such a visually appealing way that the data may seem to pop and sparkle.

The single most important thing an employer may do is learn Excel – it is one of the most essential tools of the workplace.

Excel and Microsoft are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation, registered in the U.S. and other countries. Lotus is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries.

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The value of real estate has appreciated in the last few years. It also shows great potential for growth. Hence, now might be the best time to look at an investment in property. However, if you’ve spoken to someone who already has his knees deep in real estate investing, you will realize that a lot of things are easier said than done.

It requires skill and experience to scour the market for high value properties.

Then comes landing good buyers.

Finally, there’s a humongous amount of paper work to handle.

This is where real estate investing softwares might lend a hand. They automate the entire process of real estate investing. If you would like to know more about such applications, here’s a low down on some of the common features they offer.

Lead generation –

At the click of a single button you are able to find a comprehensive list of buyers and sellers scattered across the country. The information elicited includes names and mail addresses of buyers, owners of properties, the type of property (bank owned, foreclosed, low and high equity, absentee owner etc.) and amount of cash paid.

Website creation –

Every business needs a website, especially if you do not have a physical location from which operate. Not all of us know the technicalities of writing HTML codes and designing a website. The real estate softwares can help you create targeted and user-friendly websites that you can use to showcase your business.

Direct mail generator –

Marketing is the soul of a real estate business. The more you network the more leads you can generate. The direct mail generator feature helps you setup a highly productive and efficient mailing system. You can send out emails, newsletters, posters and flyers.

There are a range of pre-made email templates you can use to send out messages to your leads. Autoresponders make sure you can keep in touch with sellers and buyers even when you are not physically present to answer their queries.

This feature is a highlight feature of most real estate software given that the savings in time and money are large.

Investing tips –

This is a section that most newbies can benefit from. Most applications include a resource library with info on the basic aspects of the trade. An open community of members can also give you an opportunity to interact and build your resource with real-time knowledge about making, building and closing a deal.

Diverse user base –

Modern-day automated real estate investing software applications cater to a varied group of investors. It includes those who buy, fix and flip properties. If you are a landlord, it can increase the convenience of managing your properties including finding tenants and repairing and renovating properties between subsequent deals. There are also features that rehabbers and builders of new constructions can use.

Contracts and paperwork –

Real estate investment also means a lot of paperwork. Most applications offer tools to generate contracts. Features such as auto-fill enable you to fill personal details into letters, contracts and other property-related documents. You can sign them online, and then email or fax them free of charge.

There is one thing – you need to be realistic. Real estate softwares are tools you can use to streamline your business. You should have a real estate business to start with and some basic know-how on investing.

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Enterprise system and Enterprise Resource Planning System terms are similar but there is difference between an enterprise system and an ERP system. An ES or enterprise system is a large scale system which includes packages like ERP and CRM. ERP is a subset of Enterprise System or it can be said that ES is a superset of ERP. It contains a variety of solutions. ES contains applications and packaged solutions which can be directly used in an enterprise. On the other hand ERP system is the automation of the business processes and the solutions are in the form of modules which are designed according to the client’s requirements.

The functions are customized according to the client’s business environment. Enterprise system does not include architecture of other solutions whereas an ERP implementation automates systems using technical aspects. ERP system includes architectures and databases and is client server architecture. The system is server based therefore the consultant needs to be aware of the technical aspect too.

Another difference between an ES and an ERP system is that the ERP is aimed at improving the functionalities of the organization whereas the ES helps to improve the overall maintenance and accuracy. It provides for better solutions and aids in decision making. ES is difficult to implement compared to Enterprise resource planning and even the timeframe needed for implementation maybe more. The overall impact is high but so are the risks involved. If the ES is not implemented in the right manner, it can cause business failure and if implemented properly it can increase the efficiency and profits of the business organization. It is normally required when there is a big drawback in the current procedures and methodologies in the organization and need to be corrected. The company going in for enterprise system needs to be careful while choosing the software and the vendors due to the risk of failure involved.

The difference between an enterprise system and an ERP system is that ERP is mostly used for medium scale companies to big companies and ES is restricted to the big companies. There are many complex functions involved in big companies which cannot be provided solutions for alone by ERP. The role of ERP is restricted when compared to enterprise system because it does not include customer relationship or vendor management.

These applications are needed when the business process is complex and on a big scale. Therefore bigger organizations need to go with ES instead of enterprise resource planning alone. ERP is also an important system to streamline the internal processes but it does not provide for taking care of the external processes. Enterprise system takes care of the end to end business process of organization since it involves other applications also like SCM and CRM. There is quite a lot of difference between an enterprise system and an ERP and it depends on the company whether it wants to go with an ES to streamline the entire process starting from supplying, production and customer or whether he wants to go with an ERP system to streamline the internal process.

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A Salesforce developer is tasked with handling and customizing the Salesforce software suite. This software is designed to help any business with customer relationship management. It handles almost any aspect of customer relationship management (CRM) with a number of products that are designed to help you maximize your business potential. A Salesforce developer can help you to combine all aspects of your business into an efficient force in the marketplace. From your business itself, the technology it uses, and the customers your business relies on, the software is there to help you with all your CRM needs.

So what exactly does a Salesforce developer to?

To put it simply, a Salesforce developer helps to customise this software to make customer relationship management more efficient. By making your CRM more efficient, this allows you to develop and maintain the relationships with your customers – which is a vital part of every business. The software contains several different applications that allows for a great deal of flexibility for your business – and there are many opportunities for customisation if you employ the help of a Salesforce developer.

Here are some of these applications:

Sales Cloud: Sales Cloud is the number 1 CRM app in the world and millions of businesses have used it to enhance their customer relations and grow their products. By taking advantage of cloud computing technology Sales Cloud is able to do more for you than other CRM apps.

Service Cloud: Service Cloud is all about helping you develop customer connections. By utilizing cloud technology Service cloud can help you improve your customer service centres and enhance your social media marketing efforts.

Marketing Cloud: Marketing Cloud is an all-in-one social networking suite. This product will help you build a social network from the ground up or can be used to improve on any social network you already have created.

Salesforce Platform: This product is perfectly designed to help you create apps for any purpose you need. A Salesforce developer can create amazing social apps, innovative real time apps, and take advantage of the growing mobile market with mobile apps. Apps are the next wave of marketing and a Salesforce developer can help you get on top.

Chatter: This product is designed to help you improve communication not only within your business but with your customers as well. By using Chatter you can collaborate and communicate with each other no matter where you are.

Work.com: This product is to help you get more out of your business by making employees more efficient and maximizing their time and talents. Again, you can talk to a Salesforce developer to ask if they can help you make the most of this product.

Whilst the above information gives some idea of what the software and a Salesforce developer can do for you, the best thing to do is to give it a try. Once you have everything set up and rolling you will be asking yourself why you didn’t do this sooner.

Once you’ve got to grips with the software, it’s time to think about making it work for your business. It’s really powerful, but to make the most of it, it’s advisable to employ the services of a Salesforce developer. Then you’ll really be unlocking its potential.

Label: The Jimmy Choo label is generally a lilac colored metal face fastened to a leather backing, and stitched to the interior of the handbag. Many fakes have the incorrect shade of lilac, either going to light or too dark in the purple spectrum. The label should read in either gold or silver. However, even if the colors are correct, the label may still not be in the clear. Because it often times the font details that are singular to authentic Jimmy Choo that many of fake handbags get wrong, and this is one of the best places to look when trying to identify a phony J. Choo.

Font: Always check out the "H" in Choo. On an authentic handbag, the horizontal cross-bar in the H should not be in the center of the letter, the way it is intended to be with regards to most standard fonts. Instead, the Jimmy Choo H should have the cross-bar closer to the top, about 75-80% of the way up the H, if measuring from the bottom of the letter. If the handbag has the correct H, move to the letters "O" in Choo. On an authentic handbag, the O will have a slightly bent look. This means that the "O" will appear as if someone snapped down on the top of the letter, giving the O an oval shape rather than a perfect circle. Spotting a fake Jimmy Choo handbag often times comes down to the subtleties in the font.

Hardware: Any screws located on handbag hardware will always be a flat head (-) screw. Jimmy Choo will never use any Philips head (+) screws in any of their handbags.

Dustbag: Fake Jimmy Choo handbags will often be accompanied by a dustbag that is an incorrect color or format. An authentic dustbag should have the logo: "JIMMY CHOO," with "LONDON" centered perfectly under the logo. The font should be an embossed gray, while the dustbag itself will be the famous lilac color. Many fakes will have incorrect font colors on the dustbag, as well as the incorrect dustbag color ie the wrong shades of purple etc. Good luck and safe shopping!

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Hospitality management systems are the software that runs your hospitality business. From the food ordering system in your restaurant, to online accommodation booking software, it enables efficient communication and management of your operation, ultimately increasing revenues.

With a range of hospitality management systems to choose from, understanding what is offered is important in order to find the right system that is tailored for your needs and budget. Depending on the type of operation you manage, you should consider the following systems, their advantages and suitability to your company.

Accommodation management software:

Accommodation software packages range from those aimed at B&Bs and small motel owners to ones for running big hotels, clubs and resorts. The basic package offers simple guest and room management, while the more complex ones cover every aspect needed to manage and run a big hotel chain. This includes reservations, service, retail, inventory, staff roster and training, accounting and much more.

Front desk: A front office software package should enable reception staff to keep track of all bookings, state of rooms, guest details and charges, coordinate restaurant reservations for guests, plan housekeeping duties and process guest check-in and check-out. They should also provide a means to communicate effectively with all travel agents and activity operators linked to the system. Features you should look out for include: Reports for arrivals & departures on a specific date. Guest ledger and reservation details, including activities and special requests. Room rates, discounts, package deals, group bookings, etc. Visual schematic of hotel rooms and status. Visual schematic of calendar with room availability. Facility for printing check-in cards for guests. Flexibility in re-assigning guests to different room. Facility to easily add charges to rooms from restaurants, spa, gift shop, etc. Incorporate all payment options upon check-out and print receipt. Print work roster for staff Facilities for storing guest history Communicate efficiently with reservation and travel agents

Housekeeping/maintenance software: Easy-to-use software for the housekeeping and maintenance departments of your accommodation place will increase the efficiency of cleaning and servicing of rooms. Main features of this module will be: Keeping track of room status – dirty, cleaned, inspected, check-ins and check-outs, etc. All information such as number of guests, number of beds, length of stay, special requests (e.g. baby cot, high chair) should be visible to both housekeeping staff and management. Staff can enter maintenance issues as they arise, and those are automatically sent to the maintenance department. Staff can request cleaning materials and toiletries ordered. Staff can keep track of laundry status for uninterrupted linen supply.

Online reservation system: This software package is essential to any accommodation place. It helps you increase direct online bookings instantly. Prospective guests can view hotel rooms (size, choice of beds), availability and prices, plus services and facilities offered. The systems should have instant confirmation of credit card payments or other secure online payment method. After payment of deposit and confirmation by email, guests should be able to login to view or change their reservation details. Cancellation policies should be stated, airport transport options mentioned.

Hospitality management systems for point of sale (POS) operations: This includes restaurants and bars, the hotel gift shop, spa, tour desk and other guest services. It should have the options of direct payment or charge to room. Apart from recording normal vending operations, it should include issuing daily transaction reports to management or the accounting office, and a daily revenue report.

In the POS sector there are many operating hospitality management systems catering for the food vendor sector, namely restaurants, cafés, takeaway shops and delis.

Restaurant (POS) management packages. For POS management packages, you have the choice of an off-the-shelf system for restaurants and cafes, where you can set the options that suit your operation, or a customised one, specifically configured for your business. Most systems are quite easy to use and are cost effective. Their features vary, but most offer the following: Order taking, tallying, and cashier options using a hand-held PDA system. Credit-card processing interface Receipts customized for your business. The more advanced systems also offer: Integrating all transactions with your accounting software. Full inventory/stocktaking facility Translation facilities to selected languages.

Administration software: This module is directed at top management and offers access to all levels of the organization. It provides instant access to the data base of all sectors, ensuring total transparency of operations Overseeing and early intervention by senior staff can prevent mistakes being made by inexperienced employees and save money and the reputation of your business. · Other facilities in this package may include:

Tools for setting different rate systems for rooms and services: daily, seasonal, special promotions, etc. Statistical data – percentage occupancy over set periods, and other data used for policy making and customized reports for board meeting presentations. Organizing promotions and package deals. Inventory for different departments. Employee accounts and employee training programs

Remember: with the high staff turnover common to the hospitality industry, it is important to choose a system that needs minimal training to use, and has ‘secure areas’, which only authorised personnel (with the proper clearance) may access and use.

Choosing and introducing hospitality management systems for your business is a significant undertaking, both operationally and financially. But once up and running, the system will increase efficiency, cut costs and improve the service in your company. You will have happier staff and happier guests, who will promote your business and ultimately increase your revenue.

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Normal use of an application consists of a person manipulating a keyboard and mouse to initiate application operations. The person is said to be interacting with the GUI (Graphical User Interface). During Silk Test testing, Silk Test interacts with the GUI to submit operations to the application automatically.

Thus Silk Test can simulate the actions of a person who is exercising all the capabilities of an application and verifying the results of each operation. The simulated user (Silk test) is said to be driving the application. The application under test reacts to the simulated user exactly as it would react to a human rest. Silk Test consists of two distinct software components that execute in separate processes:

The Silk Test host software

The 4Test Agent software

Silk Test host software

The Silk Test host software is the program you use to develop, edit, compile, run and debug your 4Test scripts and test plans. This manual refers to the system that runs this program as the host machine or the Silk Test machine.

The Agent

The 4Test Agent is the software process that translates the commands in your 4Test scripts into GUI-specific commands. In order words, it is the Agent that actually drives and monitors the application you are testing. One Agent can run locally on the host machine. In a networked environment, any number of Agents can run on remote machines. This manual refers to the systems that run remote Agents as target machines. This manual refers to the systems that run remote Agents as target machines. In a client/server environment, Silk Test drives the client application by means of an Agent process running on each application’s machine. The application then drives the server just as it always does. Silk Test is also capable of driving the GUI belonging to a server or of directly driving a server database by running scripts that submit SQL statements to the database. These methods o directly manipulating the server application are intended to support testing in which the client application drives the server.

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We all are witnessing the changes being made in the art these days. Technology has the power to change anything. It is changing the traditional art into digital art.

Amazing digital art has taken place of traditional art. Digital art is exploring itself in many different ways that one can imagine. Different software is developed to increase the presence of digital art.

Photoshop Artists are one of the most common digital artists who give an amazing look to a picture with the help of imaging software and different applications.

These applications are developed with the help of technology. Anyone can be a digital artist having knowledge and proficiency in Photoshop.

Difference between traditional artists and digital artists is that traditional artists use paint and cement for their art and digital artists use imaging software and applications in their art. Some of the applications have the power to create 3D art work.

Technology has taken art into a new level of creativity. Let us talk about how technology has changed traditional art into digital art. We know that internet is ruling the world with its power. So, artists decided to present their art online with the help of internet. This is possible with use of technology.

You must have seen art galleries and attended painting exhibitions in your life. These doesn’t work well these days so artists find a way where they can get more attention and more praise for their work. Most of the artistic stuff is now seen online and is circulated to the art lovers.

There are some places where exhibitions are held and we do respect them. But presenting paintings, sculptures and art work online is in trend. Some of the artists are also showing their art on the basis of card swipe panel or coins.

How this work – when you enter coins or swipe card in the panel, the panel shows you some of the art work for a few minutes and then gets closed and if you want to see it again or explore more, further you need to swipe your card or add coins into it. This is how artists are using technology.

How digital artists are using technology for their art work

Digital artists already in touch with technology are aware of the systems that are in trend and use them to create their art work and sell them online.

Some of the professional digital artists are earning a lot of bucks by selling their art work. They can also design the ones that you want and are also ready to make any modifications you need.

They use different software to explore their skills and made it more impressive. They are using technologies that offer new ways to express their art work in a realistic way for much more time.

They are using different types of media and mix them to provide a more creative art work. Their 3D art work looks as real as it is present live in front of you.

Technology not only brings changes in education, medical field, industry and business but also brings a huge change in the art work and the artists as well.

Technology opens different paths for the artists to enter into for a good earning. They made their profession more powerful along with their art work.

In our busy lives we hardly get time to meet each other and our loved ones. How can it be possible to see exhibitions and galleries? So technology has brought this change in the art workers to show their skills and talent to people from anywhere in the world.

Technology is getting advanced and making more useful for the common man as well as artists. Technology has provided us with several things that we should be thankful. One of them is digital art work.